Water purification system and method

ABSTRACT

A water purification system and method using an ionizer and an ozonation treatment for ionization, oxidation and/or decomposition of undegradeable contaminants is disclosed. A high electron-inducing voltage is first applied to the water in the ionizer so that undergradeable materials are ionized and/pr decomposed, then the water is mixed with ozone so the water is purified to be potable.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a water purification system and method,and more particularly, to such a system and method wherein pollutedwater is purified by the use of an ionizer and an ozonation treatmentfor the decomposition and oxidation of indecomposable contaminants.

BACKGROUND ART

Many water pollution problems are being caused by improper disposal ofchemicals and/or chemical compounds into ground water reservoirs,streams, lakes and rivers. It is highly desirable that treatment ofthese polluted waters be accomplished without the addition of even morechemicals which may result in another form of pollutant or damage to theecology.

Since any waste water treatment system that adds chemicals such is aschlorine, polyelectrolytes or other flocculates to kill organisms orremove metals and chemicals will necessarily require the production ofsuch materials before use, it is ecologically desirable to provide apurification system which minimizes the requirement for any furthermanufacture of materials to be used in the treatment process.

Chlorine has been traditionally employed for disinfecting both water fordomestic use and wastewater. However, chlorine has been shown to reactwith humic substances present in such waters to produce trilialomethanes(THM) such as chloroform, which are identified as carcinogens inanimals.

Electrochemical methods are sometimes used to remove or decomposechemical impurities in water. Anodic oxidation may be used to destroycyanide and phenols, ammonia, and organic dyes.

Although ozone has been used for treatment of drinking water as early as1903, it has been under-utilized as many people have considered its useonly as a disinfectant and have failed to utilize ozone for its highlyreactive oxidation qualities. In other words, the traditional use ofozone has been to kill bacteria, rather than to aid in the decompositionand/or removal of contaminants.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a water purificationsystem and method that uses an ionizer and an ozonation treatment whichperforms efficient ionization, decomposition or oxidation ofundegradable contaminants such as most heavy metals and other inorganicmaterials, many organic materials including hydrocarbons, phenols, THM,cyanide, pesticides and others, without adding any chemicals.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an ionizerwhich is capable of inducing and accelerating exited electrons by a highfrequency, high voltage power, thereby ionizing or decomposingundegradable materials in water.

A particularly advantageous feature of preferred embodiments of thepresent invention is that it can be applied to a variety of differenttypes of water treatment, including, but not limited to, drinking watertreatment or waste water treatment in domestic, industrial or stockraising applications.

To achieve these and other objects and features, as embodied and broadlydescribed herein, the invention comprises:

at least one ionizer including:

a cylindrical chamber having an inlet and an outlet for water flow;

at least one rod anode which is surrounded with a coaxial cylindricaldielectric sheath;

at least one rod cathode which is surrounded with a coaxial cylindricaldielectric sheath;

at least one cylindrical mesh grid which is coaxial with and surroundscathode;

an ozone generator for producing ozone, and

an ozone mixer for mixing the water with ozone provided by the ozonegenerator.

According to another aspect of the invention, a water purificationmethod is disclosed, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing at least one ionizer adapted to create an electric field;

(b) energizing the ionizer with a high voltage, such that an electricfield is created;

(c) passing the water through the ionizer so decomposition and oxidationof undegradable materials is performed;

(d) filtering sludge which is formed in the above step; and

(e) introducing ozone into and mixing it with the water.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, an ionizerused in the water purification system is provided, comprising:

a cylindrical chamber having an inlet and an outlet for water flow, thechamber made to permit the water to flow along a flow path from theinlet to the outlet,

at least one rod anode which is surrounded with a coaxial cylindricaldielectric sheath;

at least one rod cathode which is surrounded with a coaxial cylindricaldielectric sheath; and

at least one cylindrical mesh grid which is coaxial with and surroundsthe cathode,

wherein both ends of the cylindrical chamber are hermetically capped bya mounting fixture formed to provide a waterproof fit.

Both the foregoing general description and the following DetailedDescription are exemplary and are intended to provide furtherexplanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings provide a further understanding of theinvention, and together with the Detailed Description, explain theprinciples of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a embodiment of a waterpurification system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an ionizer according to the presentinvention; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the configuration ofelectrodes of the ionizer according to the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a water purification system according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained. Asshown in the figure, the water purification system comprises a pluralityof ionizers 11, a plurality of power supplies 17, each of which suppliesa high frequency, high voltage power to each of the ionizers, and afirst filter unit 12 for filtering contaminants and sludge from thewater after it has passed through the ionizers 11. The system furthercomprises an ozone mixer 13 for introducing ozone into the water, anozone generator 14 for providing ozone to the ozone mixer 13, and asecond filter unit 15 for filtering contaminants and sludge from thewater passed through the ozone mixer 13. The system may also comprise amagnetizer 16 for applying a magnetic field to the water to render itpotable.

A water source (not shown) supplies water to the plurality of ionizers11 through a pipe. Contaminants including undegradable materials areionized and/or decomposed in the ionizer 11 by a high electric fieldfrom a high frequency, high voltage power supply.

Referring to FIGS. 2-3, an ionizer according to a preferred embodimentof the present invention will be explained in detail. The ionizer 11 hasa cylindrical chamber 21 having an inlet 22 and an outlet 23 for waterflow. The chamber 21 is made to permit water to flow along a flow pathfrom the inlet 22 to the outlet 23.

A plurality of electrodes installed in the chamber 21, and they compriserod cathodes 26 and a rod anode 27. The rod cathodes 26 are placedaround the rod anode 27. Although only one rod anode is shown incathodes around the anodes. Each cathode 26 is surrounded with a coaxialcylindrical dielectric sheath 24 made from a material such as ceramic orglass, so that the cathode 26 can be prevented from directly contactingthe water. A coaxial cylindrical mesh grid 25 is provided around eachcathode 26.

The anode 27 is also surrounded with a coaxial cylindrical dielectricsheath 28, which is same material as the dielectric sheath 24, so thatthe anode can also be prevented from directly contacting the water. Bothends of the cylindrical chamber 21 are hermetically capped by a mountingfixture 30 formed to provide a waterproof fit. The mounting fixture 30may also support electrodes, dielectric sheaths and mesh grids.

The high voltage necessary to drive the electron induction by thecathodes 26 is produced by a power supply 17. The power supply 17includes a power transformer capable of boosting low AC voltage, whichmay be any commercially available voltage such as 100V, 220V, 380V or440V, to a high rectified voltage, usually between 10 and 25 Kilovolts.The power supply 17 further includes a frequency conversion circuitscomposed of a rectifier and an inverter, such as an insulated gatebipolar transistor (IGBT), which converts into a high frequency rangingbetween 40 and 60 Kilohertz.

The inventor of the present invention has noted that the voltagerequired for the electron induction ranges from about 10 to 25Kilovolts, through a number of experiments. At a fixed voltage, thequantity of electrons induced is roughly proportional to the frequencyuntil an upper frequency limit is reached. The practical frequency rangefor efficient electron induction usually lies between 40 and 60 kHz.

When the power supply 17 supplies a high voltage to the electrodes,excited electrons are induced from the cathodes, specifically throughthe dielectric sheath 24, and accelerated by a mesh grid, which ispreferably grounded. The accelerated electrons then collide with watermolecules as well as contaminants to ionize and/or decompose them.Specifically, contaminants, which are ungradable materials such as heavymetals, CFC, THM or others, become ionized by bombardment of theaccelerated electrons.

When the water molecules collide with the accelerated electrons, theygenerate hydrogen ions. The hydrogen ions perform removal of nitrogen inthe water as follows:

H₂O+accelerated e⁻→½ H₂O+OH⁻

2NO₃ ⁻(from nitrate)+5H₂→N₂+4H₂O+2OH⁻

2OH⁻→½ O₂+H₂O+2e⁻

Dissolved heavy metals such as Ni and Cd may also be ionized byaccelerated electrons. They may be combined with hydroxide ions (OH) andthen form a flocculent precipitate. Dissolved organic matter may also beionized and then combined with hydrogen ions.

The chamber 21 may comprise an aluminum layer 29 on its inner surfacewall in order to remove phosphate from the water. The aluminum layer 29is preferably formed along the inner periphery of the inner surface ofthe chamber and has a predetermined width. The width of the aluminumlayer 29 may range from a part of the length of the chamber to the wholelength of the chamber.

The aluminum layer 29 is ionized by the bombardment of the acceleratedelectrons to provide aluminum ions Al³⁺. The aluminum ions can becombined with phosphate ions from phosphate.

PO₄ ³⁻(front phosphate)+Al³⁺→AlPO₄

The aluminum ions can also be combined with oils and clays which aresuspended in the water because the surface charge of the oils and claysis negative.

Although each power supply is disclosed to provide each ionizer withhigh voltage power in the preferred embodiment, one power supply canenergize a plurality of ionizers which are connected in parallel,according to particular applications. Further, the number of ionizerscan be adjusted in various applications as necessary.

Insoluble products formed in the ionizer 11 are separated from the waterby filtration. That is, the various kinds of sludge, flocculent andsediment in the water, which are formed in the ionizer 11, may beremoved while passing through a first filter unit 12.

The water is then provided to the ozone mixer 13 which is locateddownstream from the first filter unit 12. Ozone is generated in theozone generator 14, and then provided to the ozone mixer 13.

In the preferred embodiment, the ozone generator 14 may be a coronadischarge type generator. The ozone generator 14 of the corona dischargetype creates ozone by subjecting a starting gas to a very high electricfield. The starling gas may be air which is filtered, or oxygen which isgenerated by a PSA (pressure swing adsorption) type oxygen productionfacilities. Typically the strong electric field is supplied from a powersupply (not shown) which is a combination of a transformer, a rectifierand an inverter such as an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBI). Thepower supply converts low AC voltage, which may be any commerciallyavailable voltage such as 100V, 220V, 380V or 440V at 50Hz/60Hz, to ahigh rectified voltage 15 Kilovolts at 1000 Hz, which is sufficient tobreak up oxygen molecules. The high rectified voltage is supplied withtwo electrodes such that one goes positive when the other is negative.The two electrodes form a sort of capacitor, and usually comprise twoparallel plates, concentric cylinders, or some other geometry whichallows for a constant distance between the electrodes. The descriptionof the ozone generator 14 may also be modified to explain similarstructures, and further descriptions thereof will not be made.

Ozone generated by the ozone generator 14 is provided to the ozone mixer13, which can be made a static type line mixer or other type of mixer.The filtered water is then mixed with ozone and remains in the ozonemixer 36 for a predetermined time preferably a few minutes.

This step of combining the water with ozone acts to oxidize organiccomponents, coagulate fine particulate so as to improve downstreamfiltration, and physically destroy most of the bacteria viruses andother microbes present in the water. That is, ozone acts as a powerfuloxidant, flocculant and disinfectant without producing toxicby-products.

The second filter unit 15 has a plurality of porous ceramic filters thatare capable of removing minute particles in the range of about 1 μm to0.01 μm. In a preferred embodiment, the second filter unit 15 may havethree filters which are capable of filtering within the ranges of 1 μm,0.1μm, and 0.01 μm, respectively. The various kinds of sludge,flocculent and sediment in the water which are formed in the ozone mixer13 may be removed by passing it through the second filter unit 15.

Although not required for the operation of this invention, it has beenobserved that a magnet mounted on the water outlet tends to improve theoperation of this invention. The magnetizer 16 has at least one magnetthat applies a magnetic field to the filtered water. The water becomesgenerally unstructured as it passes through the high electric field inthe ionizer 11. Therefore, as the water passes through the magneticfield from the magnetizer 16, it takes on a six-sided, hexagonalstructure, which is structurally suitable for drinking. Research hasshown that human body fluids surrounding healthy cells also exhibit ahexagonal molecular structure. Hexagonal water is better for the humanbody and health because it matches human body fluids, creatingstability.

Table 1 shows the results obtained with the system according to thepresent invention. It is noted that contaminants are reduced and thepurity of the water is enhanced with the present invention.

TABLE 1 Reference criteria With the present invention Contaminant (mg/l)(mg/l) Phosphate ions 7 — CN⁻ 5.4 — Phenol 5.4 — Fe²⁺ 4 — Cu²⁺ 3 — NH₄ ⁺8 — NO₃ ⁻ 8 — BOD 9 — COD 11.4 — Turbidity 18 3 DO 5.6 18

It will he apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the device of the presentinvention without departing front the spirit and scope of the invention.The present invention covers the modifications and variations of thisinvention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A water purification system, comprising: at leastone ionizer including: a cylindrical chamber having an inlet and outletfor water flow; at least one rod anode which is surrounded with acoaxial cylindrical dielectric sheath; at least one cylindrical meshgrid which is coaxial with and surrounds the cathode; and an ozonegenerator for producing ozone; and an ozone mixer for mixing the waterwith ozone provided by the ozone generator.
 2. The water purificationsystem of claim 1, wherein the ozone generator is a corona dischargetype.
 3. The water purification system of claim 1, wherein the ozonemixer is a static-type line mixer.
 4. The water purification system ofclaim 1, further comprising: filter means, located downstream from theionizer and upstream of the ozone mixer, for removing sludge, flocculentand sediment suspended in the water treated by the ionizer.
 5. The waterpurification system of claim 1, further comprising: filler means,located downstream from the ozone mixer, for removing sludge, flocculentand sediment suspended in the water that has passed through the ozonemixer.
 6. The water purification system of claim 1, further comprising:magnetic means, located downstream from the ozone mixer, for applying amagnetic field to the water that has passed through the ozone mixer. 7.The water purification system of claim 1, wherein the ionizer issupplied with a high voltage ranging from about 10 to 25 Kilovolts at afrequency ranging from 40 to 60 Kilohertz.
 8. An ionizer used in a waterpurification system, comprising: a cylindrical chamber having an inletand an outlet for water flow; said chamber made to permit the water toflow along a flow path from the inlet to the outlet; at least one rodanode which is surrounded with a coaxial cylindrical dielectric sheath;at least one rod cathode which is surrounded with a coaxial cylindricaldielectric sheath; and at least one cylindrical mesh grid which iscoaxial with and surrounds the cathode, wherein both ends of thecylindrical chamber are hermetically capped by a mounting fixture madeto provide a waterproof fit.
 9. The ionizer of claim 8, wherein analuminum layer Is formed on the inner surface of the cylindricalchamber.
 10. The ionizer of claim 9, wherein the aluminum layer isformed along the inner periphery of the inner surface of the chamber andhas a predetermined width.
 11. The ionizer of claim 8, wherein theionizer is supplied with a high voltage ranging from about 10 to 25Kilovolts at a frequency ranging from 40 to 60 Kilohertz.
 12. Theionizer of claim 11, wherein the mesh grid is grounded.
 13. The ionizerof claim 8, wherein the material of the dielectric sheath is ceramic orglass.
 14. A method for purifying water, comprising the steps of: (a)providing at least one ionizer adapted to create an electric field; (b)energizing the ionizer with a high voltage, such that an electric fieldis created; (c) passing the water through the ionizer so decompositionand oxidation of the indecomposable materials is performed; (d)filtering sludge which is formed in the above step; (e) introducingozone into the water to mix ozone with the water; and (f) filteringsludge which is formed in the above steps.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein in the energizing step (b), the ionizer is supplied with a highvoltage ranging from about 10 to 25 Kilovolts at a frequency rangingfrom 40 to 60 Kilohertz.
 16. The method of claim 14, further comprisingthe step of: applying a magnetic field to the water.